Many parts of a journalist’s job become routine with time.
You get to a point where you double-check name spellings and rework awkward paragraphs without thinking twice.
But you never get used to certain things. Nor should you.
On Wednesday afternoon, with planning still underway for this edition of The Reminder, I received a call from a young man.
He was a friend of Teagan Quinn, the 19-year-old former Flin Flonner who tragically lost his life earlier this week.
He and a group of Teagan’s buddies had painted a memorial mural on the rock ridge overlooking Third Avenue and Sipple Hill.
I agreed to meet the group for a photo at the mural. After a brief climb made clumsy by my loose-fitting summer loafers, I arranged these 14 young, mournful people around the large TEAGAN QUINN now adorning the rocks.
Some of them told me how much their friend meant to them, how he was always there with a smile and a laugh. Their descriptions reminded me of friends I have had throughout my life.
I was, to say the least, genuinely touched. What a tragedy that people so young must know the heartbreak of losing a loved one. What a shame that they can no longer go on in the euphoria of innocence.
Many tragedies
Unfortunately, Flin Flon and area has been through many of these sorts of tragedies, both in recent weeks and in recent years. Individuals with their whole lives ahead of them have been stolen from us far too soon.
I wonder what kind of leaders some of these young people would have become. What would they have brought to the Flin Flon of tomorrow? What would they have contributed to community and country?
I believe that good can come from just about anything, but not from these unspeakable misfortunes.
What they can do, however, is help us put life into perspective.
So much of the twadle people in Flin Flon (and elsewhere) gripe about is thoroughly petty. In the grand scheme of things, it’s inconsequential whether someone makes more money than you do, whether your road has a pothole or whether your kid got a B when she really deserved an A.
What matters is making the most of what we have in the here and now, because it just might not be there tomorrow.
That is a dreadful lesson that more and more area residents have been learning. The community’s heartfelt sympathy goes out to them in this difficult time.
Local Angle runs Fridays.
